tax rate? he raises the tax rate in order to spend. seems to me that taxing and spending is his mantra, just like the east european mantra and the california and new york -- why would you want to raise the tax rate $1.6 trillion if youp didn didn't want to spe? that's a big number. >> it is. jared bernstein was in "the new york times" complaining about the tax cutting in this country over the past 30 years. and jared says, we've gutted the tax code, we're just not getting enough revenue for all the spending we want. >> i would gut the tax code of all its special deductions and loopholes and whatnot and take the rate down to about 15%. i am a flat tax guy. what i don't get is why the united states wants to imitate the mistakes of western europe, jim pethokoukis. that's what i don't get. you get the last word. >> i think it's stunning and i hope we learn from yoour mistak as quickly as they did in great britain. >>> who needs to wait for a recession? our next guest says we may already be in one a